Cisco Small Business RVS4000 Gigabit Security Router with VPN 1 x RJ45 WAN Ports 4 x 10/100/1000Mbps LAN Ports

Pros: Decent price for what you get. Gigabit. Very easy to set up and update. I've bought a total of 4 of these things. 2 of them have worked flawlessly for a year or more. Customers are thrilled with them. The other two....

Cons: This router only allows the old Class C subnet or less! I've got $30 home routers that allow fully customizable subnet masks. What is up with a "business" class router that doesn't allow a custom subnet?!

Overall Review: If it wasn't for this one, GLARING, flaw this router would be 4 eggs easy. The first two I sold I never noticed that issue because those networks were still using a 192.168.x.x network with standard Class C subnet. I then bought two more to set up a VPN tunnel between two offices and that's when I discovered this huge oversight on Linksys/Cisco's part. Kudos to Newegg though! I had these things for nearly a month trying to figure out how this flaw could be patched until I finally gave up, realizing that there must not be any update that will give me this essential functionality. Newegg gave me an RMA without so much as a batted eyelash.

Pros: It has Intrusion Protection and stately packet inspection. If these features were on all network destinations then there would simply be no point in most internet attacks. I highly regard this feature.

Cons: It's very old and can't keep up with my internet connection of 25Mb. I moved the entire local network to a separate switch and only use this for setting up static IPs and as an internet gateway/filter but its decrepit processor can't keep up. The internal memory is too small and so when there is the rare IPS update it has to remove signatures to put new ones in, re-opening holes. Requires subscription fees to use its built in security features which is a scammy, scam, scam.

Overall Review: I bought mine over 5 years ago when it was still a Linksys product. Since Cisco took it over I've found the updates are now very hard to get and apparently they now charge for the updates that open the old holes to patch new ones. One big thing that is not stated in the features list is that most of the really good management stuff (like blocking web sites) is a subscription based service that is built into the unit but requires you to pay a fee to use it. I loved this unit a long time ago but lately it is becoming the biggest bottleneck on my network and I'm fed up with its obsolete and protection racquet based fee for security business model.

Pros: Okay, I AM a computer engineer, and wanted to do this product some due justice to offset these "known issues" people have claimed to find. The unit works right out of the box, it is suggested in previous posts to upgrade the firmware, please do so, as it is always good practice to check for firmware updates and install when available. The router has been installed for over a month now at my house and has not so much as even failed to renew an IP address. Have not had to reset the connection for any reason, and all nodes within the DHCP scope have correctly refreshed every three days without incident. It includes well needed features as well such as QoS, DMZ, and built-in firewall.

Cons: I am yet to find any, though I wish it came in black instead of two-toned silver/black . . . . .

Overall Review: The router is currently selling at $104.99, I bought it over the holidays to replace a problematic D-Link and paid nearly $150.00, given what the competition is offering at that price range, you'd be silly not to but this router with what it offers. Being backed by Cisco, it is a solid buy.

Pros: None

Cons: Terrible router - locked up about 6 times in a week! It was apparently discontinued by Cisco because they couldn't fix the lockup problem. They should have trashed them rather than dumping them on the market. I returned it for a refund!

Pros: When it works, it work well; VPN connects quickly and have decent (but not great) throughput. Menus are easy to understand, and the internal gigabit switch is nice.

Cons: I continually have to reboot the router because it just decides it doesn't want to work anymore. Sometimes it stays up for a couple of days, other times it goes down within a few hours. Tried flashing the firmware multiple times, with no success to solving the problems. When the IPS is turned on, it goes down even faster. Overall bandwidth degrades over time, which makes me think there is something wonky in how the device handles packets. I admit that I am using this on a Class B subnet (172.16.x.x), and that might possibly be a problem, but I would expect a routing device to be able to handle NAT on something other than the 192.168.1.x default subnet.

Overall Review: I should have returned it, but I didn't in time, so now I'm stuck with hardware that is highly defective.

Pros: Features vs cost... Can't beat it!

Cons: Firmware less than 1.3.2.0 has proven to be flakey. Random lockups, tunnels dropping, remote admin was unreliable. WITH 1.3.2.0, WOW!!! NOW IT IS WORTHY OF THE CISCO NAME!

Pros: Gigabit speed, even on the WAN port. IPS shows who is trying to get into your network as well as how. It replaced my BEFSX41 firewall router, mainly for the gigabit but for other nifty features such as DHCP static address assignment based on MAC address.

Cons: Restarting takes some time as the box runs Linux. Some config changes require restarts.

Overall Review: Contrary to what a previous reviewer said, this is a bona fide router. If it works on IP addresses, i.e. is a layer 3 device, it is a router. The new firmware gives 802.1q VLAN tagging, allowing the LAN to be divided into as many as four segments. And ya gotta have a router to pass data between VLANs.

Pros: Easy to setup and has enough features to satisfy all but the most demanding home office configurations. Looks like Linksys has released regular signature updates for the built-in intrusion protection system. There are plenty of controls to restrict network traffic including peer-to-peer and IM programs. Before configuring the router update the firmware.

Cons: Initial firmware that ships with unit needs some work.